On Valentine’s Day

Valentine’s Day is virtually impossible to miss. The colours red and white saturate shops and retailers since January 7th or so … and by Friday, all hearts and balloons will have been replaced with bunnies and eggs! Two consecutive holidays which rely on chocolate sales.

Aligning by their themes (love and life/couple and family), these holidays try their best to get us to celebrate what should be the most important things for human beings.

Now isn’t it incredibly sad that we need a reminder! Love is not a box of chocolate and a bouquet or a night out preceded by eating out. Love is a kind word, a comforting touch, a hug, a sacrifice (big or small), a presence, the absence of judgement, acceptance, and a listening ear. It is also making efforts to get a smile out of somebody, it is being late to work because your kid needed an extra hug that morning, it is letting your wife sleep a whole night while you manage your crying newborn, and it is telling your husband he is the best husband and dad in the world.

Love is building up the people in our life, teaching them through an irreproachable example (walking your talk and making it the best possible), feeling benevolence and care, supporting and encouraging them.

So, what do chocolate and flowers have to do with all this?

Nothing … that I can see!

Saying “I love you” can be done in many ways, without much effort, if only love is real. The little things speak louder than one great event once a year.

An ‘I love you’ every day with supporting gestures and behaviours will be more valuable and appreciated than a box of chocolate and a bouquet of roses on the day of a cultural tradition.

Truth is, most ‘I love you’s’ exchanged between people are the type of love described here:

The real deal is much harder to find.

However, I wish you to find the real deal if you don’t have it, and if you do, take great care of it.